Chinese New Year: Customs, Symbolism, and the Family Reunion Night

Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival, stands as the most important holiday in Chinese culture. People have celebrated it for more than two thousand years. The festival falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice, usually between January 12 and February 19. After the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, people began calling it the Spring Festival to distinguish it from the Western-style New Year. In everyday speech, many simply call the holiday Nian, a word that means "year.”

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Chinese New Year in Moscow

The Legend of Nian: Fear, Survival, and Discovery

Ancient folklore tells of Nian, a fierce horned monster that lived in the depths of the sea. Throughout the year, the beast remained hidden underwater, but on the eve of the New Year it emerged, stormed into villages, devoured livestock, and terrorized families. Villagers dreaded its arrival. Each year, before the New Year began, entire families fled into the mountains to escape the creature's wrath.

One New Year's Eve, as residents of Tao Hua Village hurried to leave with their elderly and children, a mysterious beggar with silver whiskers entered the settlement. Panic consumed the village. People secured doors, packed belongings, and drove animals away, leaving little room for curiosity. Only an old woman noticed the stranger. She offered him food and urged him to flee before Nian arrived. The beggar smiled and replied with calm confidence: if she allowed him to stay the night, he would drive Nian away.

Despite her doubts, the woman left. At midnight, Nian rushed into the village. This time, something felt different. A fire burned inside the old woman's home, red paint covered the doors, and the courtyard exploded with the sharp crack of bamboo firecrackers. Nian hesitated. The monster feared red, bright flames, and loud noise. Suddenly, the gates opened. The beggar, dressed in a red robe, stepped out laughing. Terrified, Nian fled into the darkness and never returned.

Why Red, Fire, and Noise Define the Holiday

The villagers returned the next morning to find their homes untouched. The old woman revealed the beggar's promise, and joy swept through the settlement. News of the discovery spread quickly. From that moment on, families decorated doors with red couplets, lit fires, set off firecrackers, and stayed awake through the night. This tradition of remaining awake, known as "shou sui,” symbolized guarding the passing year and welcoming the new one.

Family Reunion, Symbolic Foods, and Regional Customs

New Year's Eve became known as the night of reunion after separation, the most meaningful moment of the year. Families gathered around lavish dinner tables filled with dishes that carried symbolic meaning. Chicken, fish, and tofu appeared frequently because their names sounded similar to words associated with happiness and prosperity in Chinese. Culinary symbolism shaped the celebration as much as ritual.

Regional traditions added further richness. In northern China, families prepared dumplings, or jiaozi. Their name echoed phrases associated with bidding farewell to the old year and greeting the new one. Their shape resembled ancient gold and silver ingots, turning the dish into a symbol of wealth. In southern China, families favored niangao, sticky rice cakes that represented progress and improvement with each passing year.

The holiday period typically lasted seven days. During the first five days, people visited relatives, friends, classmates, and colleagues to exchange greetings. Gift-giving never became the central focus of the celebration. Instead, adults presented children with lucky money placed inside red envelopes, a custom known as ya sui qian. Families traditionally offered these envelopes to any child who visited during the first fifteen days of the New Year.

Festivities filled the streets with energy and color. Markets and fairs hosted lion dances, dragon dances, stilt performances, and folk processions. Celebrations concluded with the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, bringing the New Year season to a vibrant close.